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Death Valley-Northern

Northern Death Valley region of California, including the Cottonwood, Grapevine, Saline, and the Last Chance mountain ranges

25 posts

Roode Rock

Roode Rock

While wandering around in the wilds of Death Valley National Park, we found a historic inscription by William Roode (also Rood or Rude), who was one of the Jayhawkers who escaped Death Valley in 1849. There is some debate as to if the inscription was really made in 1849 or

Cottonwood Ridge Petroglyphs

Cottonwood Ridge Petroglyphs

For three years, a photo of a petroglyph site had been sitting in my inbox. (Not my regular inbox, but the “I’ll get around to it someday” inbox.) The photo only showed a couple of boulders, covered with petroglyphs, on a hillside. The caption said it was somewhere in

Up and Down Mine Cabin

Up and Down Mine Cabin

In 2005, I took a quick trip out to some of the more remote reaches of the northern Death Valley National Park wilderness to check out an old mercury mining site and look for a possible cabin. Not too many people get out in these hills. It was a nice

Rio Pinto Arrastra

Rio Pinto Arrastra

We didn't know its history when we found this triple arrastra site. I had guessed that it was built by early Mexican prospectors around the 1860s or 1870s. Since then, I’ve done some research, come across a few old references, and pieced together some history. The arrastras